Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein By Jennifer Roy, Ali Fadhil Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Age Range: 10+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat …a disturbing but accessible portrait of a civilian child’s perspective on war. —Publishers Weekly Description At the start of 1991, eleven-year-old Ali Fadhil was consumed by his love for soccer, video games, and American television shows. Then, on January 17, Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein went to war with thirty-four nations led by the United States. Over the next forty-three days, Ali and his family survived...

The Breadwinner Original book by Deborah Ellis (Graphic novel adapted from feature film) Published by Groundwood Books Age Range: 10+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “A realistic view of the contemporary migrant scene, along with complex truths about race and class.” —Booklist Description This beautiful graphic-novel adaptation of The Breadwinner animated film tells the story of eleven-year-old Parvana who must disguise herself as a boy to support her family during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan. Parvana lives with her family in one room of a...

Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees By Mary Beth Leatherdale Illustrated by Eleanor Shakespeare Published by Annick Press, Limited Age Range: 10+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “…educators and librarians looking for a human face for the refugee crisis will find this offering essential.: —School Library Journal Description The phenomenon of desperate refugees risking their lives to reach safety is not new. For hundreds of years, people have left behind family, friends, and all they know in hope of a better life. This book presents five true...

Lucky Broken Girl By Ruth Behar Published by Penguin Young Readers Group Age Range: 10+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “A poignant and relevant retelling of a child immigrant’s struggle to recover from an accident and feel at home in America.” —Kirkus Reviews Description In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers, and her...

Pashmina By Nidhi Chanani Published by First Second Age Range: 10+ Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N | Worldcat “…the first (graphic novel) written and illustrated by an Indian-American creator, this is both a needed contribution and a first-rate adventure tale.” —Kirkus Reviews Description Priyanka Das has so many unanswered questions: Why did her mother abandon her home in India years ago? What was it like there? And most importantly, who is her father, and why did her mom leave him behind? But Pri’s mom avoids these questions—the topic of India is permanently...

This is not a book, but it is story. This is an ad created by 84 Lumber to air during the 2017 Super Bowl. It was deemed too controversial for the original ad and banned from broadcast. It is a mother and daughter’s symbolic migrant journey towards becoming legal American citizens.

Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco By Judith Robbins Rose Published by Candlewick Press Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Available as eBook and Audiobook Description “Miss, will you be my Amiga?” Amiga means “friend” in Spanish, but at the youth center, it meant a lady to take you places. I never asked myself if two people as different as Miss and me could ever really be amigas. When Jacinta Juarez is paired with a rich, famous mentor, she is swept away from the diapers and dishes of her own daily life into a world of new experiences. But crossing la...

Caminar By Skila Brown Published by Candlewick Press Also available as an audio book. “This is a welcome way to increase the diversity of any collection while providing a glimpse into a period of history unknown to most American kids.” –Booklist, Sarah Bean Thompson Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war. Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a...

The Cat at the Wall By Deborah Ellis Published by Groundwood Books Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N “A soulful story that captures the magic of possibility, even in difficult times.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) Description A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she’s just a cat. Or is she? She was once a regular North American girl, but that was before she died...

Walking Home By Eric Walters Published by Doubleday, Canada Find a copy at Amazon | B&N “Set in both the wilds and slums of Kenya, a powerful story about a brother and sister’s brave journey to find a place to call home.” —Penguin Randomhouse Description 13-year-old Muchoki and his younger sister, Jata, can barely recognize what’s become of their lives. Only weeks ago they lived in a bustling Kenyan village, going to school, playing soccer with friends, and helping at their parents’ store. But sudden political violence has killed their father and destroyed...

In Too Deep By Tom Avery Published by Frances Lincoln Sequel to Too Much Trouble Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description “It’s Father,” my brother said. “He’s in trouble. We’ve got to get him.” Prince and Emmanuel are stunned to hear that someone who says she’s their mother is looking for them. Can it really be her, after four long years of separation? The boys are scared and suspicious. And then there’s another shock – they learn that their father is trapped in Tanzania, blackmailed by gangsters to pay off an impossible debt. The boys make a big decision – somehow they...

Same Sun Here By Silas House and Neela Vaswani Illustrated by Hilary Schenker Published by Candlewick Press “This tender and breathtakingly honest story about unlikely friendships and finding common ground will captivate readers…audiences will revel in this lovely story about a boy and girl who are not so different from one another after all.” –Lalitha Nataraj, School Library Journal Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Meena and River have a lot in common: fathers forced to work away from home to make ends meet, grandmothers who mean the world to...

Under the Same Sky By Cynthia DeFelice Published by Square Fish “This look at migrant workers carefully lays out many of the issues involved, including the conflicts inherent in the immigration laws, and readers will come away with a new understanding and sympathy for these workers.” –Paula Rohrlick, KILATT Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description For his fourteenth birthday, Joe Pedersen wants a motorbike that costs nearly a thousand dollars. But his mom says the usual birthday gift is fifty dollars, and his dad wants Joe to earn the rest of the...

Give Me Shelter Edited By Tony Bradman Published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Book “It is a seriously important book…Most of all, we learn about the loneliness of being a refugee in a strange country.” –David Self, Paper Tigers Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description The phrase ‘asylum-seeker’ is one we see in the media all the time. It stimulates fierce and controversial debate, in arguments about migration, race and religion. The movement of people from poor or struggling countries to those where there may be opportunities...

The White Zone By Carolyn Marsden Published by Carolrhoda Books “Marsden’s detailed descriptions of everyday life make this culture come alive.” –School Library Journal “Marsden tells a story that resonates highly in today’s society where there are many different types of chaos disrupting lives and homes worldwide.” –VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Nouri and his cousin Talib can only vaguely remember a time before tanks rumbled over the streets of their Baghdad neighborhood when books, not bombs, ruled Mutanabbi Street....

A Long Walk to Water By Linda Sue Park Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt “Park employs well-chosen details and a highly atmospheric setting to underscore both children’s struggles to survive” –Publisher’s Weekly “Brilliant. . . . A touching narrative about strife and survival on a scale most American readers will never see.”—BookPage Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family. She walks eight hours every day. Salva walks away from his war-torn village. He is a “lost boy” refugee,...

A Stone in my Hand By Cathryn Clinton Published by Candlewick Press “With a sharp eye for nuances of culture and the political situation in the Middle East, Clinton has created a rich, colorful cast of characters and created an emotionally charged novel.” –School Library Journal Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description The year is 1988 in Gaza City, and it has been a month since eleven-year-old Malaak’s father left to seek work in Israel, only to disappear. Every day Malaak climbs to the roof and waits, speaking little to anyone, preferring the company of...

Santa Claus in Baghdad By Elsa Marston Published by Indiana University Press “Though few examples of popular culture depict Arabs in a positive light, Marston’s collection is one of the exceptions. Eight Muslim teen narrators are hopeful in the face of poverty, grief, and despair. The author, who worked and traveled extensively to the Middle East, has an uncanny ability to understand the Muslim culture and relay her characters’ innermost thoughts to Western audiences” –Chantal Walvoord, ForeWord Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description What is it like to be a...

Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak By Deborah Ellis Published by Groundwood Books “…an accessible way of approaching a huge and difficult topic, this book should be required reading for adults who care about children living in any conflict-influenced situation, from Israel to violent neighborhoods in the United States.”—Francisca Goldsmith, VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N Description Deborah Ellis’s enormously popular “Breadwinner” trilogy recounted the experiences of children living in Afghanistan; now...

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East By Namoi Shihab Nye Published by HarperCollins Children’s “…These poems show what life is like for Arab Americans who are tied to two very different worlds. Caught painfully between these two worlds, they feel the horror and sadness over the terrorist acts yet are aware of the many innocent Arabs who have become victims as well…This collection can help teens understand a different point of view and a culture with which most teens are not familiar” —Jennifer Rice, VOYA Find a copy at Amazon | IndieBound | B&N...